How do you detemine "round count"?

[oremike]

I get that if you buy a firearm brand new and only shoot a box or two of ammo it's easy to count that. But if you're like me you buy a gun new or used, take it out and shoot it, clean it, put it back in the safe. I reload so I'll make a few loads and shoot them to find the one I like to shoot then make a bunch of that load and as before shoot, clean and put way. I figure it's like "once fired ammo" either it's new as in never been shot out of the factory or used as with ammo shot at least once. In parallel to my question do some firearms have wear items that need replacing every so many rounds that I don't know of?

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[Joe13]

I think a it's used a lot of times to indicate wear on the guns outside (unless the rifling is gone in the barrel) finish and used to give a better idea how far off "new" the gun appears to them.

Other then that, it subjective and something people do to try and sell a used item for as much as they can get for it.

 

[oremike]

So people are using round count as a way to describe condition not function life? Seems like those are not the same.

 

[Kruel J]

Unless you keep track of every round fired, there's no way to determine round count. And there are indeed parts that wear out. From springs to barrels, anything that moves as part of the round firing or anything the gas/bullet or casing contacts will eventually wear out. On a pistol frankly everything can wear out. Even the frame itself. I've really only seen barrels that have a "life expectancy" advertised.

 

[oremike]

Right, kind of my point, I don't care how many rounds were shot, I care about what condition the firearm is in. Inside and out.

 

[Kruel J]

Same. I shot over 11,000 through my Ruger P89 and only had Ruger service it because I wanted their opinion on how much wear there was. A couple of springs replaced and good to go.

 

[etrain16]

I think a well seasoned shooter or a good gunsmith would know if a gun has been shot a ton or been a safe queen. For the rest of us, it's kind of a judgment call whether you take the seller's count as accurate or not. Some internal items can be seen with simple take-down - I always pop the slide off a semi auto - look at the rails for wear, look at the barrel/feed ramp for wear, and just to inspect the general condition of the gun - which can be harder to do if your seller doesn't clean it before you meet them (I always clean/lube my guns before I sell them, even if I haven't shot them since I last cleaned/lubed them).

From what I've seen in my limited experience, I think most folks don't put thousands and thousands of rounds down range with their guns. I've bought 20-30+ year old guns that look just about like they just came out of the box.

But honestly, short of putting the gun in front of a gunsmith, I don't see how you can be truly certain of the life expectancy of the gun. Caveat emptor and all that

 

[No_Regerts]

With low pressured rounds like pistol ammo, its wear and tear that I am worried about, not so much actual round count.

With a rifle, round count matters. Some hunting cartridges show throat erosion in fewer than 200 rounds. Im not buying a 257 Weatherby with 1000 rounds through it.

 

[bbbass]

Unless one is very familiar with the particular Make/Model of a pistol, it is hard to judge the less obvious details of condition. No matter what the claimed round count it would be best to have it looked at by a gunsmith.

There are a few obvious factors like loose slide to rail condition on an older Colt 1911. This would cause it to be only a collectors item if at the right price, not a shooter firearm. On revolvers, if the cylinder is loose and wobbly, the round can partially hit the side of the barrel when fired. I would automatically exclude such a firearm from consideration. It's just a matter of knowledge gained over time.

When it comes to round count, beware of horse traders.

 

[oremike]

Sounds like we are all on basically the same page, I've been at this awhile so think I'm a fair judge of condition. I don't really care if a pistol has 500 or 5000 rounds shot through it. What I care about is how well it was taken care of. If it lived it's life in a bag of hammers rolling around in the bottom of a fishing boat I don't want it no matter how low the round count.

 

[Doc In UPlace]

If I were so detail-obsessed as to log total rounds fired in each gun I would have a heart attack nit-picking every other detail in life or wind up at the state hospital in Steilacoom.

Perhaps more important would be what ammo was used, mostly +P or overpressure handloads, for example.

This is one of the reasons I usually buy new stuff. It isn't pre-wrecked by some DYI fool. I mean this in a nice way of course.

 

[clearconscience]

Personally used is used and new is new. I'll get mad if someone sells a gun as new and it's dirty inside being shot and never cleaned.
But I've bought used glocks that were filthy inside. Got a good price and cleaned up great.

If you've put 300 rds or 1000 there's not going to be much difference.
Just depends on how well it was maintained.

Over 5k rounds it gets a little different. It's all a guess any way.

I buy guns for my and my families safety, not for a display case. So if it's worn or has a scratch I could care less.

Price should just depend on condition. Not round count.

 

[Joe13]

If I were so detail-obsessed as to log total rounds fired in each gun I would have a heart attack nit-picking every other detail in life or wind up at the state hospital in Steilacoom.

Perhaps more important would be what ammo was used, mostly +P or overpressure handloads, for example.

This is one of the reasons I usually buy new stuff. It isn't pre-wrecked by some DYI fool. I mean this in a nice way of course.

I'm a perfectionist by nature so I find buying used works for me because someone else got the New off of it.

I hate to be the first one to put a mark or ding on anything I own lol.

I also research the stuff I buy for things to look for if I'm not familiar with the specific model, however red flags are similar for guns, cars or whatever.

Of course, when something I want is only 'slightly' cheaper and it isn't a bargain then I tend to buy new.

 

[Joe13]

Personally used is used and new is new. I'll get mad if someone sells a gun as new and it's dirty inside being shot and never cleaned.
But I've bought used glocks that were filthy inside. Got a good price and cleaned up great.

If you've put 300 rds or 1000 there's not going to be much difference.
Just depends on how well it was maintained.

Over 5k rounds it gets a little different. It's all a guess any way.

I buy guns for my and my families safety, not for a display case. So if it's worn or has a scratch I could care less.

Price should just depend on condition. Not round count.

Hey, if your interested, I have a LNIB pistol for sale. Only took it to the range once to sight it in and fired a few mags out of it.

I'll sell it for $10 below MSRP.

Oh and you pay the transfer fee

 

[Member 5605]

My guns have meters on the side that tick away round counts.

In seriousness, sometimes you actually know. I reload so I can guess my counts within 100 on my guns based upon how much I loaded for it.

 

[Stomper]

All my rifle's round counts are carved into the stocks, because one shot = one kill.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Sounds like we are all on basically the same page, I've been at this awhile so think I'm a fair judge of condition. I don't really care if a pistol has 500 or 5000 rounds shot through it. What I care about is how well it was taken care of. If it lived it's life in a bag of hammers rolling around in the bottom of a fishing boat I don't want it no matter how low the round count.

Hey, you got somethin against fishin boats???
My gun lays on my stack of hand towels & is safe from the bounce...

 

[mjbskwim]

Hey, you got somethin against fishin boats???
My gun lays on my stack of hand towels & is safe from the bounce...

So you pick it up with your fishy hands to get to the towels? Salty water fishy hands?

 

[Mark W.]

Until the internet sales started up I had never once heard anything about round count as a way to judge condition. And I have been attending gun shows since the mid 1960's and for a 14 year period 83-96 I went to shows at least once a month as that is where I did business. I put no stock in round count. Cosmetic condition is easy to determine visually and wear is determined with a bore scope and handling the firearm. I've bought firearms that were 100 years old and may have had zillions of rounds through them but the actions are tight and the bores were good because they were taken care of.

 

[Caveman Jim]

So you pick it up with your fishy hands to get to the towels? Salty water fishy hands?

No, I wear nitrile rubber gloves, I'm a surgical fisherman everything is sterile!!!